Franks' injury part of the game, Dawkins says

Packers tight end taken to hospital after big hit from Eagles safety.

November 28, 2005|By Gordie Jones Of the Morning Call

The hit was clean. Clean and hard.

But then Bubba Franks didn't get up.

Eagles safety Brian Dawkins, as direct in his dealings with reporters as he is in his dealings with receivers, later sorted out the jumble of emotions that ran through his mind following the punishing lick he laid on Franks in the second quarter of the Birds' 19-14 victory over Green Bay Sunday.

"It's a tough thing," he said.

Tough, but not shocking.

"It's one of the things that happens in this game," he said. "As a player you have to realize that sometimes it happens, but most of the time it does not. Sometimes I'm going to take the blunt end of some big hits. That's just a part of the game that I play."

And when the hittee doesn't get up?

"You just have to erase it as soon as possible," Dawkins said, "and go out and if the opportunity presents itself to make a big hit -- not a cheap shot, but a big hit -- you have to do it."

Dawkins drilled Franks, the Packers' tight end, two plays into the second period, causing Brett Favre's pass to fall incomplete.

Which is what Dawkins does, and what he has always done, throughout his 10-year career. His reputation as a ferocious hitter is well-earned.

But in the process Franks' neck was bent at an awkward angle. He fell to the ground, landing on his back, and stayed down.

"I looked back down and I saw him move his legs, and I figured he was OK," Dawkins said. "Then he stayed down, and I realized he was hurt seriously."

Medical people from both teams rushed to Franks' aid. His facemask was removed. He was secured to a backboard, then a stretcher.

Dawkins watched this whole scene from a few yards away, then was among the Eagles who approached Franks to wish him well as he was rolled off the field. Franks raised two fingers on his left hand in a "V-for-victory" sign or a peace sign -- however you wish to interpret it -- as he departed.

Later it was reported that he had movement in all his extremities, but some tingling in his shoulders. He first underwent X-rays at the stadium, then was taken to Jefferson Memorial Hospital for further tests.

Meanwhile, back to live action. Coincidentally or not, William Henderson, Green Bay's wrecking-ball fullback, plowed into Dawkins -- even though he was away from the play -- on the first snap of the Packers' next possession.

Dawkins, obviously angry, followed Henderson toward the sideline, then a few steps in the direction of the Green Bay huddle.

"We talked a little bit," Dawkins said.

Again, he said, "These things happen in the game, and I realize that."

A lot of things always seem to happen to Dawkins, who on this day contributed four tackles, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.

And in the end he tasted victory, for the first time in five weeks.

"It's huge for morale," he said. "It's huge to know we can win, we can finish a game, we can play four quarters of good football -- go through the highs and lows of a game and still pull it out in the end.